Thirty years after Deep Throat made her the first female porn star, Linda Lovelace remains among the most well known names in adult film history. Her starring role in the Gerard Damiano classic made her an instant celebrity; she was the world's first porn star and an emblem of '70s porno chic. Almost overnight, she went from the shady, illegal world of early New York underground loops to appearing on talk shows and making the scene at the Playboy Mansion; as documented in Eric Danville's recent book The Complete Linda Lovelace, she became a part of the American pop culture lexicon.
During her porn heyday, Lovelace soaked up the limelight as a self-proclaimed nympho, but her 1979 book Ordeal presented a radically different version of events. Stating that she was the victim of coercion and abuse at the hands of manager Chuck Traynor, Lovelace emerged as one of porn's most outspoken opponents. She testified against the industry and followed Ordeal with another memoir, Out of Bondage.
Though Lovelace remains firm in her anti-porn stance, she did pose for a layout in the January 2001 issue of Leg Show... go figure.
